Animorphs 53: The Rebellion
by rockangelz13
Summary: This is another version of Animorphs 53. You get to see Jake's and James' POV in this one. Both teams. Just read to see for yourself. R and R! :
1. Catatrophe in Waiting

**Disclaimer: _This is my version of Animorphs 53 but I didn't actually write the book. K.A. did and she rocks!!_**

**A/N:** Hello! Um...that's it? Read please! This is just a story I'll keep updating until I finish Rest In Peace. Enjoy! And lot's of credit to Jennifer Lot. Thank you!

Note: ((blah)) is thought speak.

Chapter 1

**Jake**

**DAY ONE**

The Yeerks know who we are and the world knows about them. An open war. But at the moment, it was basically onesided.

Marco and I were riding the thermals created by Dracon beams. Dracon beams shooting down from one low-hovering Bug Fighter. Dracon beams that were cutting through our town like a hot knife through butter.

People were crowding to get out of buildings but had only seconds to get away. Most of the people leaving houses escaped, but those in twenty-story buildings were not so lucky.

My peregrine falcon hearing picked up on the panicked commotion coming from the next building in the Dracon beam's path. With his osprey eyes, designed to spot fish in the water, Marco could see through the windows of the building. He reported hundreds of people fighting their way down stairs to the ground floor.

As I watched, a group of men and women in business suits pushed their way out of a pair of double doors. Only a handful managed to get away from the building before it sizzled and disappeared. Even then I thought the Dracon beam would overtake them, but…

It's turning, curving back the other way, said Marco.

((Tobias?)) I called.

((Got it)), he said. ((Leading them left.))

A short way outside the Dracon beam's course, a few dozen people followed a talking red-tailed hawk away from danger.

Pointing them in the right direction was the most we could do. I knew it wouldn't do any good if the Yeerks decided to pick them off.

We weren't the only ones who were improvising. A military truck had arrived on the scene two minutes ago.

A handful of soldiers were now shooting up at the Bug Fighter with anti-aircraft guns. But weapons that would have been formidable to an airplane were just a joke to the alien spaceship. It took no notice of the attack as it continued on its course.

Soldiers ran to keep up with it. Some fell into newly-formed ditches. Ditches that, seconds before, had been basements. One soldier shot directly at the Bug Fighter's Dracon cannon. He maintained his position even as the Dracon beam coming from his target threatened to annihilate him.

Another soldier pulled the first out of harm's way, not a moment too soon.

"Cease fire," ordered the second soldier.

"No!" The first soldier cried. "General Hobster, we can't let them get away with this!"

"You will fall back, Lieutenant," snapped General Hobster.

"I want ropes and pulleys over there." He pointed to the ditches.

"I want the truck ready to pick up passengers over there." He pointed to a herd of running people, struggling to stay ahead of the advancing Dracon beam.

Smart. The general wasn't going to waste time being ineffective. But I understood the first soldier's attitude all too well.

((Visser One has enough Controllers to take all of these people by force)), I said, watching the slaughter. ((Why waste so many host bodies?))

((It's not the people they're after)), said Marco.

He was right. The Yeerks weren't bothering to destroy the people who were running away. The group following Tobias was growing now that the alarm had spread. Tobias kept spiraling down to fly above the heads of the crowd. I guess he was trying to make sure that they didn't lose sight of him. I thought of telling Tobias to ease off on the air show so he wouldn't attract unwanted attention. But the Bug Fighter took no notice of him or his band of refugees.

The general's troops were retrieving soldiers from the ditches. Injuries ranged from broken arms to sprained ankles, but there were no fatalities.

The military truck was crammed with civilians and the soldier driving it was disregarding every speed limit that had ever been invented.

((The Dracon beam is still curving this way)), I observed.

((It's a circle,)) said Tobias, his thought-speech becoming faint with distance. ((Someone go and lead the others out the far side.))

Marco took off.

((General Hobster)), I called out. He jumped, looking alln around him for the source of the voice. I did a few loop-the-loops to get his attention. ((I'm up here. The beam is going to curve back to where it started. Get your soldiers outside the circle before it comes back, okay?))

He gaped at me.

((Yeah, I know I'm a bird. Look, just do it.)) I left it at that, hoping he would take the hint.

I watched the deadly beam of red light continue on its course, while I tried to think. The Yeerks were clearing structures. Making space for something. Something that would go _inside _the circle.

Horrified, I stared down at the completed _outline _of a circle, which covered about a mile of densely populated city.

Without wasting any more time, I shouted out in public thought-speech: ((Everybody down there, RUN! Anyone on Findley, Birch or Gillette street head for Pinewood mall to your right and follow the osprey! Main, Burard and Rosedale head for the hospital, left, follow the hawk! Move, move, MOVE!))

I doubted whether most of them could follow directions at a time like this. They probably couldn't tell the difference between a hawk and an osprey either. But I kept calling out, repeating the instructions as loudly and clearly as I could, hoping against hope it would make a difference.

Some of them were heading in the right direction, but they were all much, much too far away.

Three more Bug Fighters swooped down.

((Tobias?)) I yelled. ((Have you got any more people with you?))

No answer. He was out of range.

((Marco?)) I asked.

((No, Jake,)) he said, simply.

((You don't have any more following you?))

((Only the ones on the outer rim. None from any of those central streets are going to make it.))

((They can still make it,)) I insisted. The Bug Fighters haven't—))

Tsssseeeeewww!!!

Dracon beams were now burning up everyone and everything inside the circle.

I couldn't watch. I turned and flew toward the mall, figuring that Marco would be easier to catch up with.

((I told General Hobster to follow Tobias, seeing as the hospital's that way)), said Marco. I(( thought it was good advice, but he looked at me like I was the most illogical talking bird he'd ever met.))

((Same thing happened to me)), I said, wearily.

I soared high on a thermal. Marco flew low, leading the survivors further and further away from the Bug Fighters. 

((Should I stop and settle them somewhere?)) Marco asked.

((Better get more distance)), I said.

((I don't think we need to)), he said. ((The Yeerks outlined a specific area for whatever it is they're doing. They obviously don't need any more space at the moment.))

((What do we do with the ones who made it out?))

((Hork-Bajir valley?)) Marco suggested.

((No)), I said, flatly. ((We have enough refugees there already. And with this many people in tow we'd be discovered. We can't support this many either.))

((Then, I guess they'll have to knock on doors and hope for guestrooms)), said Marco.

((I don't have a better idea)), I admitted.

I glanced back, wondering what Tobias was planning to do with his homeless followers.

I could still see a few people running for the circle's perimeter, but the last of the Dracon beams sealed their fate.

After that, the only sound coming from that area was the roar of the Bug Fighters' engines. The only living things I could see were a flock of pigeons, flying away from the circle of burnt land.

**A/N: **I think it was pretty good but you guys are the judges. Review. I'll have chapter 2 tomorrow or Friday. :)


	2. Where to go?

**A/N: **Not this time!

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Chapter 2

**James**

((Erica? Craig? I said. ((Tell me you have everyone.))

((Collette's not with us)), Erica answered.

((Neither is Kelly)), Craig added. ((We have everyone else.))

((Not good enough)), I said, tersely. I spun around, flapping to stay airborne. Pigeons don't exactly glide. ((You two, take the rest ahead. I'll catch up with you in a minute.))

I flew back to the rehab center. It wasn't that far away and I knew that I could probably reach my missing Animorphs through thought-speech. But the fear that they would not answer left me searching for pigeons in silence. If Collette and Kelly were still at the center and the Dracon beams were still...

I silenced the thought before I could finish it. They had to be all right. I just wanted to see it with my own eyes.

When I came within a few feet of the center I saw two pigeons. They seemed to be having an aerial cat fight. Both flapping madly, they were scratching and pecking at each other with their tiny beaks and claws.

((Break it up!)) I shouted at them.

Their heads snapped around to look at me.

((Bug Fighters are buzzing around behind you and this is the time you choose to try out pigeon kung-fu? You've got to get away from here!))

((We're coming)), said Kelly firmly. ((It's just that one of us needs a little convincing)). She tilted her head at her opponent.

((If the center's going down, we have to get the others out!)) cried Collette.

((We don't know that the center's going down)), I told her. ((The Dracon beams have stopped now. The Yeerks will probably leave what's left of our town alone.))

((Well then)), said Collette, her voice challenging, ((why are you so anxious to get away?))

((Because… )) I was trapped now. How could I explain to her that there was a chance the Yeerks would vaporize our center, that I wanted us to be safe if that happened, and that I didn't have a plan for saving the ones we'd be leaving behind.

Before I could come up with anything, Kelly said, harshly, ((Because we're fighting the Yeerks to save the world and we won't be able to do that if we stay here and wait for their next land-clearing whim.))

((But the others—))

((Are no worse off then the rest of this town, which won't thank us for getting killed or captured in a pointless rescue attempt,)) said Kelly.

Collette fell silent. Then she addressed me, quietly, in private thought-speech. ((We can't leave them, James. Just because we can fly. It's not fair.))

((None of this is fair, but there's nothing we can do about it.))

((You don't know that)), Collette fired up again. ((You just don't want to risk—))

((That's right, I don't,)) I snapped back. ((I don't want to risk losing anyone and you're already making that difficult.))

There were more Bug Fighters coming down now and above them, an enormous ship was slowly descending. My tiny bird heart was hammering against my ribs. I took a deep breath. I couldn't afford to get upset.

((Please, Collette,)) I said. ((Come with us. We can come back and check on the center later. We'll do something, I promise, just…_not now_.))

Collette said nothing. She glanced back at the center and then up at the sky. Slowly, she flew away from our former home.

I breathed a sigh of relief. As we flew toward the rest of the group, I made a mental note to anticipate Collette's reckless heroics in future. If Kelly hadn't kept her in check, Collette might've morphed crocodile and started evacuating people on her back. I shuddered as I imagined it. The Yeerks definitely would've noticed something like that.

((James?)) It was Craig. ((Did you get them?))

((Yeah)), I called back. ((Where are you guys?))

((Waiting for you)), said Erica. ((We're feeling pretty vague about where we're supposed to be going.))

((Hork-Bajir valley,)) I said, catching up to the group. ((There's nowhere else.))

I had been using public thought-speech, but it still came as a slight surprise to me when Judy entered the conversation.

((Isn't that place already full of dinosaurs?)) she asked.

((Hork-Bajir)), Timmy corrected, ((labeled as such in order to distinguish themselves from those extinct reptiles of earth origin.))

I didn't expect Judy to understand that. Timmy has a speech impediment when he's in his own body, so he enjoys thoughtspeech more than the rest of us. Judy is not someone who can appreciate his wordy sentences.

((So, let's go hang with the neighbors)), said Majel. She was flying in lazy loops, looking like she hadn't a care in the world. ((We do know the way, don't we?))

((I think I can figure it out)), I said. ((Jake took me there once, for a meeting.))

((Speaking of)), said Kelly, abruptly. ((Don't you think there'll be a meeting now? After…you know.))

((Yeah, I guess so,)) I agreed.

((Someone's going to stop by the rehab center to let us know and we won't be there)), Kelly went on.

((They'll know where we are soon enough,)) said Jesse, condescendingly. ((We're on our way over to their place.))

Jesse has a talent for critisizing. Using the simplest words, she can throw anything you do or say back in your face and make it look bad.

Kelly doesn't let that kind of stuff get to her. When she next spoke, it was with confidence. ((The question is: should we tell the other Animorphs that we're in their valley?))

I fixed my beady eyes on Kelly. I had no idea what she was getting at. She looked exactly like every other pigeon around me, but there was definitely something different going on in her head.

((Why wouldn't we tell them?)) asked Collette.

((I don't think they'd like it)), said Kelly. ((They said it was important that we stay undercover, that it would raise Yeerk suspicion if we left. They told us that they didn't want any more refugees.))

((The circumstances in which we received those instructions, have recently altered)), Timmy pointed out. ((Our covert Base of Operations is no longer a secure facility. Jake will certainly recognize that our evacuation was require—))

((No)), Andrew butted in. He has the least patience for the way Timmy talks. ((With all they've got in that valley, they wouldn't want us, no matter what'd happened. Kelly's right. We should go back.))

((That's not what I meant)), said Kelly, annoyed. ((We have to go to the valley, that much is obvious. I'm saying we should keep it secret, at least for now.))

((We couldn't stay hidden from Animorphs in their stronghold)), Erica objected. ((They must be keeping a watch on the place all the time.))

((What about the Hork-Bajir?)) said Raymond, mildly. ((Do you think they'd mind us being there?))

Raymond is one of those rare people who would remember to wipe his feet on the doormat when entering a person's home to escape an approaching tornado. I could hardly call myself so considerate. I didn't care what the Hork-Bajir thought of our home invasion.

((Well)), said Raymond, as some of us rolled our eyes. ((It is their valley. If they welcome us, it won't matter what the other Animorphs think.))

((Hork-Bajir are too stupid to know the difference between who they should invite in and who they should shoot down)), said Jesse, scornfully. ((That's why they don't get to make the important decisions, even if it is their valley.))

((They are not stupid)), said Collette, angrily. ((They are the nicest species in the universe. And anyway, they've got Toby to make the decisions.))

((Who's Toby?)) asked Raymond.

((She's a seer)), said Collette. ((She was born to lead her people in a time of change. She's a lot smarter than the other Hork-Bajir.))

((Why does she have a boy's name?)) Judy wanted to know.

((She was named after Tobias)), said Collette.

I was more than a little surprised by Collette's ready answers.

The rest of us didn't know much about the Hork-Bajir.

((What do they eat?)) Judy asked next.

((How do you know all this?)) I cut in.

((Tree bark. Marco told me)), answered Collette.

((You two been hanging out?)) Raymond surmised.

((Are we going to eat tree bark?)) Judy wondered.

((Guys!)) Kelly burst out in exasperation. ((We are getting seriously sidetracked.))

((Yeah)), said Majel. ((Where is that valley? Let's get going, already.))

((You get going)), Andrew snapped. ((I still say we should go back.))

((You may change your mind when you find yourself in a slaughterhouse tomorrow)), said Jesse, sounding less smug than usual.

((That won't happen)), said Erica. ((The Yeerks aren't ready yet.))

((It is conceivable that they intend to spend tomorrow constructing structures to occupy the vacant region)), Timmy observed.

((Or they might decide that any buildings that are still standing are fun target practice)), suggested Jesse.

((James)), said Kelly, desperately. ((Do something!))

((If we're gonna get thrown out of the valley anyway—)) said Andrew.

((Okay)), I said loudly. ((Everyone, chill.))

((—we might as well stay at the center and make our last meal a good one.))

((Andrew!)) I yelled.

((Lighten up)), said Majel.

((No, just be quiet, everyone!)) I waited a moment. Nobody spoke. As my thoughts settled, I realized that something had been bothering me. ((Craig?)) I called. ((Are you still with us?))

((Yeah)), said Craig. ((I lost track of what you guys were saying. Something about not being able to make a decision?))

((Here's one)), I said, jutting my head forward in a commanding sort of way. ((We're going to the Hork-Bajir valley. Give me a head count, will you? I think I've lost about seven of us in this discussion we've been having.))

I gave Erica the same instructions and both reported back that all were accounted for. ((Erica's team, go ahead)), I said. ((Fly east toward those hills. Craig's team follow. Stagger yourselves out. If anyone sees anything, it had better look like a stray pigeon minding its own business.))

((What are you going to do?)) asked Collette.

((Go back to the center)), I explained. ((One of the Animorphs will be there soon, to take me to the meeting. We're keeping our new location a secret, for now. I can find out more about how the others feel at the meeting. Then we can decide what to do.))

With a few parting directions for Erica and Craig, I dropped out of the lead and watched the straggling pigeons go by. I counted off names as they flew past me.

Erica, Collette, Raymond, Diondra, Shawn, Judy, Zack, Jesse, and Erica's team was gone.

Craig, Timmy, Majel, Liam, Kelly, Tricia, Andrew, Chantel, and Craig's team was gone.

Seventeen of us. Sixteen people I was constantly checking for. Every time I counted them, they were all there. Still, I always dreaded the counting. I couldn't overcome the fear that I would find the number short.

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**A/N: How'd I do this time???**


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